Ground Beef Chili over Stir-Fried Vegetables

Dozens of people kept saying how much they loved Austin, Texas-based Melissa Joulwan’s chili. I was not quick to try it because my only adult, chili-experience was the canned stuff from Hormel. Finally I tried it and now I want “Mel’s Favorite Chili” all the time! What I am sharing here changes Mel’s recipe slightly to suit my tastes and laziness; I used one tablespoon of garlic powder instead of four cloves of fresh garlic and two teaspoons of salt instead of one. And I used chicken broth instead of beef because that is what I had opened in my refrigerator. And I changed the tomatoes a bit, but it’s pretty similar. Either way, this is good stuff that I hope you will try. Just remember: If you like it, give Melissa the credit. If you don’t like it, blame it on my changes.

Chop onion into bite-sized pieces. Add one to two tablespoons of olive oil to a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and let cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Add meat. Stir with a wood spoon or spatula until browned evenly and in small crumbles. Mix spices in a small bowl – 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, 2 tablespoons of chili powder, 2 tablespoons of ground cumin, 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, 1 teaspoon of allspice, 2 teaspoons of salt. Add spices to the pot and mix everything well. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste and a few ounces of chicken (or beef) broth. Stir well and bring pot to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 2 hours. About 15 minutes before the chili finishes cooking, Chop zucchini and squash into bite-sized pieces. Add one to two tablespoons of olive oil to a wok over medium heat. Add vegetables and a light dusting of salt and garlic powder. Stir ingredients well, cover, and let cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a splash of water to the wok if vegetables become too dry. When everything is done, arrange a bed of vegetables on a plate, ladle chili over the vegetables, and eat!

Note: As soon as I finished this batch of chili, I made it again with mock tender steak in a pressure cooker. And I just bought ground turkey to make chili a third time. More recipes are coming!

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Tom Denham

My sleep, mood, and athletic performance improved after just a few weeks of eating real, whole foods exclusively. My body fat dropped from 30 percent to 10 percent over the course of one year eating all I wanted of meat, fish, eggs, veggies, some fruit, and lots of healthy fats from coconut, avocados, and olives, but no grains, dairy, peas, beans, sugar, processed foods, or alcohol. This approach to eating is explained in It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. Every recipe on this site meets their "Whole30" criteria AND passes my taste tests. I hope you enjoy these meals as much as I have.